A Thin Line
by Heartless
Summary: *Chp 5 up!* DARK AU B/V. What happens when the line between love and hate is so thin, they merge into one? Full summary is inside. So enter this realm of darkness, violence, insanity, passion, and love, if you are brave enough...
1. Entry I

Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ. Lyrics used are taken from a song by Mariah Carey.  
  
AN: Inspired from a beautifully written fic on adimra's website.  
  
A very dark fanfic of Bulma being taken by the Saiyans. This story line has been done SO many times, but it's still a good plot ne?  
  
Rating is R. We have spoken greatly (my friend and I) and deliberated many themes for this certain fic. This is a DARK and contemporary fic. It will be written in POV and at times, narrative. A lot of the content in this fanfic will be strictly for mature readers, so please heed my warning and do not read if you think you cannot handle it. Violence, sex (no lemons, just implications) and language are main factors in this piece of work, so if you don't like the certain aspects I have listed, do *not* go any further.  
  
This is my first piece of written work, so please review it as your opinions would be helpful!  
  
The next chapter will be up tomorrow.  
  
~*~  
  
A wise person once said that there was a very thin line between love and hate. They couldn't have been more right.  
  
The hatred and love I felt for one man, engulfed me for so many years and I found that I lost myself... And him, in a whirlwind of crazed emotions.  
  
I still cannot forgive myself for what happened, even though I know none of it is my fault... Or is it? I should have-I should have...  
  
Kami... It even hurts to talk about it, but I know I can't keep it bottled inside of me forever. I knew that one day I would have to tell someone. And that someone is my daughter. I look at her sitting across from me, as we enjoy each other's company.  
  
I know what she wants to hear, she wants to hear the story of my life, of how I came to be the woman I am today.  
  
She wants the story of my life, my trials and tribulations... And I will have to tell her, with my head bowed in shame.  
  
She will learn how I destroyed a man who loved me more than-more than life itself, all because I was blinded by my own folly and rage.  
  
I try to fight the insanity that threatens to override me, as I plunge into the story of my life without little warning, afraid of what my daughter will think of me.  
  
I am a bad person.  
  
~*~  
  
The heat was causing my skin to blister. I could see angry red bumps begin to form on my arms as the sun's rays shone down upon the large and chaotic planet. There was so much noise, that I couldn't think straight. So many screams echoed in my ears.  
  
The setting changed and the screams vanished.  
  
Why was I here? I didn't know what was going on until I found myself running through thick foliage. But I don't know where to, I just knew that I was running, from something or someone. I could hear their heavy breathing closing in on me and I tried with all my strength to break away from the hand that was reaching out to grab me.  
  
I felt a scream tear its way up through my vocal chords, as a heavy arm encircled my waist.  
  
And I awoke with a sudden jolt, to find myself staring up into a pair of obsidian eyes.  
  
The eyes that had seemed to haunt me for so long were there before me, in reality. And then, the image of the dashingly handsome man spoke.  
  
"I see you have finally decided to grace me with your presence." His low and sultry voice caused my heart to flutter in my chest.  
  
Who is this abomination that calls himself a man? I was so confused, that I found myself drowning in a sea of different emotions. I asked myself, who was this gorgeous yet dangerous man that loomed over me in such a frightening manner? I narrowed my eyes as I recognized the face of the man who had destroyed all my hopes and dreams.  
  
It suddenly dawned on me, as I stared into those cold glittering eyes.  
  
I began to cry, almost wetting myself in fear.  
  
~*~  
  
She hadn't started her tale from the beginning, she had jumped right in and began without any explanation. Her hands jerked in a nervous disposition. She took a deep breath, unable to carry on as an image of the muscled, handsome man flashed through her mind, with his red cape billowing out behind him in the wind and his thick black hair that was swept up into a flame, that was...  
  
A soft but comforting hand touched her arm.  
  
She looked up into the cerulean eyes that were a duplicate of her. The older woman smiled at the younger woman.  
  
"Momma?" The young woman whispered fearfully, wrapping her arm completely around her mother's trembling form. "Are you ok?" concern seeped from every word the younger female spoke.  
  
The older woman nodded and gently ran a trembling hand through her daughter's silky blue tresses, so much like her own. She was beautiful. If only her father could see his beautiful granddaughter, he would have been so proud...  
  
Her eyes left her daughter's momentarily, looking out at the sun that was sinking behind the horizon of the sea. Her cerulean orbs grew warm as she turned to look back at her daughter, a shaky smile playing on her lips. "I am as fine as life will allow me to be, sweet daughter."  
  
The younger female frowned at the answer. She pulled the comfortable chair even closer to her mother's, almost sitting side by side in their chairs.  
  
They sat together in a moment of comfortable silence, looking at the purple and pink streaked sky as the sun set in the distance.  
  
Curiosity won over the young woman and took a deep breath as she spoke her next words. "I'm sorry I asked you about your past, Momma. But please continue... You have to do this, you have to tell someone. You started half way and it was too confusing. You must start from the beginning if I'm ever to understand you." She said softly.  
  
The older woman sighed in defeat, "I know Bra-chan, I know... But the memories haunt me so much." She closed her eyes and gripped her daughters hand tightly.  
  
Bra smiled sadly, she placed a gentle kiss on her mother's cheek in an effort to comfort her further. "Try to be strong Momma, it won't be long before..." she trailed off unknowingly. The ominous statement hung in the air from the hidden meaning.  
  
Bulma opened her eyes and tilted her head as her eyes glanced back at her daughter, briefly. A ghost of a smile played on her lips. "Then I had better start from the beginning, if we are to ever finish this tale, Bra- chan."  
  
Her daughter nodded vigorously, handing her a steaming mug of coffee. It would be a long night, they both knew that.  
  
Bulma was about to speak, but then she paused. "I-I can't recall the memories off hand, daughter. That's why I just skipped so much. But I remember now that I have an aid... It is under the bed, in a box. It is a diary of my memories. Bring it here and I will read it to you." It had occurred to her that she had kept a diary in her tumultuous time on Vegita- sei, the only thing that bound her to the past in more ways than one.  
  
She watched quietly as her daughter stood and retrieved the hidden diary. As it was placed into her hands, Bulma grew overwhelmed with the emotions she felt. Staring at the thick straw cover, she inhaled sharply and lightly thumbed the thick papyrus book, growing more and more agitated as sirens of screams began to ring in her ears.  
  
Trying to hush the horrific screams, she frowned and spoke softly, "I haven't held this diary since, since-" she broke off with a soft, small sob. Bulma shook as her daughters warm arms encircled her in an embracing and comforting hug.  
  
"Shh, it's ok Momma. All of your ghosts will be laid to rest if you just let the past go, you have to move on and this is the only way you can do it." As her daughter's soothing voice calmed the raging storm in the older woman, Bulma slowly opened the thick diary.  
  
Her eyes skimmed over the beautiful and slanted handwriting as she flicked through its pages. She hadn't touched it in so many years. She thought that if she touched it, all of her past ghosts would rise up to haunt her again and never leave her in peace. But as she leafed through the pages, relief washed over her as the ghosts of her past did not show themselves.  
  
Bra watched her mother thumb through the book in apprehension, as though it were the black plague itself. Her throat grew dry as her mother's hand touched the very first page of the diary. Bra had known about the diary, but had never dared to sneak a look at what was inside.  
  
She knew her mother would never forgive if she did. But she was ready to hear this, and her mother had agreed to finally speak of her cursed past. Bra was ready to hear her mother's story and she was ready to hear her own legacy. She shut her large cerulean eyes and waited for her mother to continue.  
  
A moment of pain coursed through Bulma's veins, causing her to wince inwardly as she read the contents of the first page alone, before reciting it to her daughter.  
  
Bulma knew he was coming and that he was coming for her. She also knew that he would tear her away from this perfect world, like he had done before and that he would cast her daughter aside like a rag doll.  
  
Gathering up a small amount of courage, she drew a deep breath and spoke in a hushed tone to the setting sun, rather than her daughter, imagining she wasn't there so that the memories wouldn't be so painful to have her daughter know the truth of the monstrous life she had been pulled into.  
  
It seemed so much easier to do that.  
  
Bulma's soft and weary voice echoed through the spacious room as she read from the lavender tinted pages of the diary.  
  
The diary that had been the only savior in her most darkest hours.  
  
~*~  
  
12/15/3001. (DB).  
  
"I don't know why I'm even writing in this fucking thing. What is the point? What is the point at all? Karja says it will ease my pain, but what does she know? She doesn't know shit... No, I shouldn't say things like that. She's the one that helped to save me, along with Son-kun...  
  
As you can see, I'm angry. Hell, I've always had a temper, but today it has been exceptionally bad. It is my birthday and I received this diary as a present from Karja. She is a slave and my friend, my only true friend in this living nightmare. I'm covertly pissed off at... Him. I can't even write his name without wanting to gut his innards with a spoon for all that he has done to me.  
  
You are probably wondering who I am talking about. I speak of my master, the only reason that I am even here and writing this down.  
  
I suppose I should start from the beginning.  
  
My name is Bulma. Bulma Briefs of Chikyuu-sei. I was the daughter of an ingenious man who was a scientist, and I had a kind and loving mother. I had everything a girl could ever wish for, but like all good things, it finally came to an end.  
  
I lost everything I owned or had, I lost my family and friends on the day a blood thirsty warrior race decided to descend upon our peaceful planet. I'm not bitter, or I'm rather I am not bitter any longer but that doesn't mean I wasn't.  
  
Five years is quite a long time for a person to change, to grow and adapt. I was twenty when they burned our planet alive. I can't even talk about it, for I know I will only work myself into a dark rage.  
  
I feel myself slipping with each day that passes here on this horrendous world. Each day is like a battle to survive, to keep myself from dying in spirit and mind. I feel as though insanity is just a step away from where I stand. I fear that if I step any closer to it, I will be ensnared in its grasp forever.  
  
That is the reason why I choose not to remember my planet, but-but it can't be helped! I must tell someone what it was like there, I can't let my race die out because if I do, I'll never forgive myself. Perhaps you are the only one to whom I will be able to speak about my planet.  
  
I cannot utter any words of my previous life before this one, it hurts too much to voice them and I fall into an unaccountable sorrow each time I try to speak of it. But I am not so impaired that I cannot write about my planet or my past.  
  
Gods, our planet was beautiful. I can still remember what it looks like, even to this day, five years on. It was full of rich vegetation, rain forests, deserts, pure white ice lands, anything you could have imagined. It was all there, on one planet. I smile as I remember the wildlife, the delicate feathered birds and the large mammals and reptiles that lived in a cycle of life. I pine for their loss, what harm had they done to die in such a God-awful way?  
  
I distinctly remember Papa telling me, when I was at the age of sixteen, that my eyes mirrored the sky of our planet. I had laughed and waved his comment away, as though I were swatting a fly. I told him, "The sky of Chikyuu-sei is much prettier than my eyes, Papa."  
  
He laughed and said, "Believe what you wish princess." As though he saw something with his wise eyes, that I didn't.  
  
I frowned at him and stomped my foot, as any other foul-tempered teenager that hated to be belittled, would have done. "But Papa!" I yelled, "Just look at the sky, you can't tell me that it's not pretty!"  
  
His eyes twinkled in merriment. I think he enjoyed my little tantrums. "Bul-chan, when you grow older, your eyes will be the greatest asset to yield power upon any lesser man. They will be your savior."  
  
He couldn't have been more right.  
  
But my eyes were a curse to me on the day I was taken.  
  
I had just turned twenty when they came. It had been like any other day on my home planet. I had been in my father's laboratory, trying to diagnose a problem he had caused in the computers' main system. Papa had always been clumsy when it came to computers. I wonder how such an ingenious man could have been so IT illiterate.  
  
He preferred to work on his black board like a crazed Einstein, working out calculations and schematics, using chalk. I told him that one day, the added inhalation of chalk dust and tar from his cigarettes, would fuse in his lungs and choke him to death...  
  
I can't believe I said that to him. But I was angry with him for ruining the formulae on the computer and as he lit a cigarette, I lost it. I always hated it when he smoked, and he knew it, but he never stopped. I yelled at him to leave the lab, even though I knew he was endangering no one by smoking in the computer room of the lab. He left with his head hung in shame, with the cigarette doused out.  
  
To this day I ask Kami why he never spared my father's life as he had spared mine.  
  
I never do get an answer.  
  
I had just finished reprogramming the computers in the underground lab when I heard a strange bang coming from above. I grinned and thought to myself that it would be Goku, he was incredibly powerful for a sixteen year old. We could never figure out why he had a tale when we found him in our large garden. He was unconscious when we found him, lying in a strange pod.  
  
My father took the pod, examined it and the boy inside. We found out that he wasn't from this planet, and that his ship had malfunctioned and crash landed on our planet. I warned my father not to inform the government about any of our findings and he had agreed. We raised him in our family and he was like a little brother to me, but as he grew older, he became restless with nervous energy.  
  
We sent him to skilled fighter, an older man named Gohan, so that Goku could be trained to fight, under his knowledge. Papa knew him through an old acquaintance and was told that Gohan-san had been an extremely powerful man in his younger days and that he could help Goku to harness his power. It was something we were all in awe of.  
  
When Gohan-san passed away, Goku took the man's second name in loving memory of his kindness, so that he would live on in his heart. Goku, or Son-kun as we now called him, came back to us with a heavy heart. It was the first death he had witnessed. As he cried in my arms, I told him that everyone had to die sometime, it was the way Kami had designed it to be.  
  
He looked up at me through his tears and smiled sadly, "Bul-chan, I'm going to miss him."  
  
I had simply gazed back at him with a sorrowful smile on my lips and ran my hand through the hard jutting spikes that were his hair. "I know you will Son-kun, but just think that he is in a better place now." He smiled and kissed my cheek softly.  
  
"I'm glad that you are with me, Sister." His voice was soft and loving, of a sweetness that I would have never been able to grasp.  
  
I chuckled as I jumped into the elevator and made my way upwards, to the main entrance of our home.  
  
I was left speechless by what I saw when I walked through each room of my once beautiful home.  
  
The entire place had been ransacked, turned upside down as though a tornado had blown through the room. I ran into the kitchen, suddenly worried for the safety of my family. But I knew nothing would happen to them. Son-kun was a strong boy, he could protect us.  
  
I could hear shouts coming from outside of the dome building that had been my home for the past twenty years. I gasped and raced to the sliding glass doors of our kitchen that led out to our large garden, my mother's garden. From behind the glass doors, I looked on his horror as Son-kun was tossed into a nearby tree, he lay there not moving a muscle.  
  
Cruel laughter danced its way towards me and I looked up to see five, lumbering men towering over my mother's blue violets. They landed, one by one, with a loud thump as they crushed my mother's flowers.  
  
From the corner of where they stood, I heard my mother sob out in frustration and anger as they destroyed her beautiful flowers. My mother was almost never angry, and that was a cause to worry even more.  
  
I was too mesmerized by the men to take notice of my mother's whimpering cries. I was complete awe of their sheer size and I knew without a shadow of doubt, they were from another planet. What caught my eye, was the brown furry tails peeking out from behind their armored bodies. Just like Son- kun!! But I never had time to dwell on that thought.  
  
I can remember the look in their eyes to this very day. Such cold, bone- chilling eyes. It was as though their souls were burning in hate and rage beneath those dark eyes. They had not noticed me standing behind the glass doors.  
  
My mouth hung open as one of them stalked towards my mother, who was now on her knees and weeping for her loss flowers it seemed, and something else that I couldn't quite make out from my position. Perhaps she was weeping for our dog, Wee. And I wondered if he had been killed in the cross fire between Son-kun and the large men with the black hair that fell down his back like a waterfall.  
  
I yelled through the thick glass doors as the man with the lion's mane for hair, grabbed my mother by her hair. They couldn't hear me yelling, the glass was designed in such a way that it was sound proof from the outside.  
  
No one could hear the noise from the inside, but noise from the outside could be heard. I desperately tried to unlock the door, but my fingers fumbled clumsily over the latch. I couldn't seem to control my movements, that was how much the terror had blinded me.  
  
I watched in fear as my mother was rattled by her neck as though she were a trouble-making dog. I finally managed to unlock the door, grabbing the baseball bat that was miraculously there. It was my boyfriend Yamcha's, baseball bat, he was supposed be playing professionally that summer...  
  
I ran out like a girl on a mission. I was screaming, screeching and yelling like a bat out of hell with the baseball bat raised above my head. It was certainly a sight to have seen.  
  
It may seem funny as I'm describing it now, but it wasn't funny when it was actually happening before my very eyes.  
  
You try watching a grown man shake and strangle your mother as though she were a hound, and then tell me if you find it funny. The other four men were surprised to see me, but they hung back in some kind of sick amusement, as I careened the baseball bat against my mother's captor. I hit him squarely in the head.  
  
It didn't do a damn thing.  
  
In fact, I could have sworn I had broken my hand in the process of slugging the bastard. He turned to me with a cold and calculating look. A look that read 'I'm going to kill you bitch'  
  
I backed away like a gaping fish, feigning defeat, before I tried to hit him again. This time, he was ready for me and grasped the bat in one meaty hand. I gasped as he crushed the bat with his bare hand.  
  
"Who are you?" I whispered as I was backed up against a tree. The five men were crowding around me and it seemed as though there was no way to escape.  
  
They laughed at me.  
  
Gods, I can even hear their laughter to this day. It haunts me at every waking moment, even five years on.  
  
I cringed as they laughed and I turned my head, not able to look at them any longer. A flash of red passed across my vision, and through their bodies I finally saw my father lying on the ground with a wound in his chest. He was writhing in agony, his body convulsed as large amounts of blood seeped out, onto the grass below him. I sobbed out and fell to my knees, gasping for breath like him, only I wasn't the one who was dying.  
  
The men looked over to where my attention was held and they laughed again. The prison that their bodies had created for me, separated like a gate, as though they were graciously allowing me to have my final moments with him.  
  
I crawled like over to his slain body and felt the tears stream down my face.  
  
"PAPA!" I cried, taking his head into my lap. I sobbed with grief as my Papa lay in a pool of his own blood. This was not the way he was supposed to die! He was supposed to die an old man, in his bed with his grandchildren around him. Not lying in a pool of his own blood. It was such a shock to see him lying there, almost dead in my arms.  
  
I leaned down and touched my lips to his bloodied cheeks. It was then that I could feel myself slipping, with each dying breath he took. "Papa," I whispered against his cheek softly. I could feel five pairs of cruel eyes on me, but I ignored them. All I could see was my father. "I'm sorry I yelled at you Papa," I murmured against his cheek, my own tears falling upon his cheeks as though they were his. But he was not crying. I still wonder about that.  
  
He took a ragged breath and whispered something that only I could hear. "Live, Bul-chan. You can survive, along with Son-kun. My... Princess." I choked back a strangled cry as his eyes grew still, no longer was there any life held in the blue orbs that were an exact match to mine. All I could see was an imprinted image of great loss in my father's dead eyes. I wanted to shake him awake. I wanted to scream at him to wake up.  
  
But I didn't. I couldn't.  
  
I gently laid his head back down on the grass, still in a sense of shock and I clung to his still body like a little girl, weeping from the loss. I was grief stricken as I uttered my next words.  
  
"Come back Papa, come back, you have to come back. You can't leave me, I'll be a good girl from now on, I promise I won't yell at you, please come back... I promise to be a good girl. I-I'll always be your good little girl, if you come back, Papa." My voice had retreated back fifteen years, I sounded like a wounded five year old child as I sobbed into his chest.  
  
And then, I knew nothing.  
  
A comforting black void surrounded me, but before I lost complete control of my grip on reality, I heard a harsh voice laugh and say, "Pathetic Dait- jins, so weak with emotions! Their race should never have survived. It is a good thing we came upon this planet."  
  
And my mind screamed, I struggled not to lose consciousness from the shock I felt. Dait-jin?!? What the fuck was a Dait-jin? We were Chikyuu-jin, not-not Dait-jin. But I lost myself in the black void before I could say anything. And as I fell back into the warm and black abyss, I wondered what had happened to my mother and Son-kun...  
  
Heavens upon me, I cry as I write about the last moments I had with my father. My brave, handsome, brilliant Papa... Why does death always hurt so much? The conversation I had with Son-kun keeps coming back to me, of when I told him that everyone had to die, that it was part of Kami's great design.  
  
Bitter tears are rolling down my cheeks as I write now, I cannot stop them. I haven't cried for three solid years and now... As I write this, I cry for the first time in those three long and arduous years.  
  
There is so much pain and hate in my tears, I fear my cheeks will burn from the hate that each tear holds.  
  
I-I cannot write anymore, I feel myself drowning with the memory of my father's death. I must find a way to block it out. I must destroy the memory, but I don't know how to...  
  
Kami help me, but I know my life will never be the same as it was on Chikyuu-sei. I will never smile upon my Papa again, never have him hug me...  
  
It is dark now in the small room that has been given to me. I belong to someone now. My master. I have to leave this room and join him in his own bed. Yes, I do belong to him, but-but I don't want to think about him. He is... He is not a good person. He is the reason I was so angry today. He is a cruel bastard, so heartless.  
  
I've never met a man such as he, I wouldn't even classify him as a man. He has showered me with gifts and luxuries for the past five years, which I cast aside as they hold no meaning to me. His appearance is pleasing but he hurts me in so many ways, that I have lost count of all the times I have been hurt and I cannot look upon his face without a shudder of hatred coursing through my blood.  
  
And he wonders why I do not show him affection. I wanted to laugh out loud when he spoke of affection, but that story will soon come in its own time. I would rather swallow my own bile and have myself riddled with lashes than show him any of my true feelings. I am nothing but a walking, breathing doll to him and he was the cause. He is a bad, bad man.  
  
And one of these days, I will kill him.  
  
I know I will..."  
  
~*~  
  
Bra shuddered in fear as her mother's voice trailed off. She could hear a tinge of insanity in the words that her mother had written. It was there on the surface of her words, ready to jump out at any given moment. "There was a thin line of love and hate between you and your master, right Momma?"  
  
She was trying to justify what her mother had said before she had read the first entry of her diary. Somehow her mother had grown to love her Master and so Bra was confused by the hate she held for him in the first entry.  
  
Bulma flinched at the mention of... Him. "Yes Bra-chan," she said quietly, "A very thin line. He was, oh Kami, he was a horrid man... But I felt-" She broke off, a disgusted shudder shook her small body. She grabbed her daughter's hands. "Don't you ever leave me Bra-chan!" She cried out, as though Bra was actually going to leave her.  
  
Bra's arms were around her once again. "I'm here, Momma. I'm never going to leave you. Please go on." She placed her head on her mother's shoulder, hugging her tightly.  
  
She was the only thing in Bulma's life that anchored her to her sanity. "I hope so, daughter... I hope so." The heavy statement hung in the air as Bulma raised her hand to turn the page.  
  
She stared at her next entry, tears brimming in her eyes as she tried to hold onto some semblance of reality. She desperately tried to tell herself that she was here with her daughter and that she was no longer with the man that was her Master.  
  
But all the comforting feelings disappeared as she continued to read the contents of the next page.  
  
Would she survive through the hateful memories of him? Of the odd, binding relationship they had once shared?  
  
She didn't know.  
  
~*~  
  
After so much suffering,  
  
I finally found the unvarnished truth.  
  
I was all by myself,  
  
For the longest time,  
  
So cold inside...  
  
I felt like dying.  
  
~*~  
  
AN: Ok so did it stink? Was it a total pile of crap? Hated it? Or did you even like it and want more?  
  
Review and let me know! I will put up the next chapter tomorrow.  
  
*Heartless* 


	2. Entry II

AN: I am so happy! 5 reviews, wow, thanks so much.  
  
Thanks to: trunksblue, chibi saiyan sarah, samantha, carolyn, Samantha Jayne and Melina. All of you were the first people to ever read this fanfic and I will never forget you!  
  
As promised, here is the next chapter to my fanfic 'A Thin Line'  
  
~*~  
  
She gently ran a hand through her daughter's azure locks, a saddened sigh parting from her lips as she read the next entry to her diary.  
  
~*~  
  
12/16/3001 (DB)  
  
"I look back on what I wrote yesterday and I shudder at the things I wrote. But I do not shudder from horror or disgust. The thought of killing my Master, is a pleasurable feeling to me. But he must never know that, or I will never have my revenge.  
  
I already know he will not kill me. Isn't life grand? To have something in your reach but never have it in its entirety, that is how it is with him. He will have me by his side, but he will never know the real person that lies beneath this mask of a beautiful face.  
  
Beauty is a curse, not a gift and I know that now.  
  
I suppose I should finish what I started yesterday and inform you of the events that have happened up until this day.  
  
After I awoke from my unconscious bliss and I soon wished that I had stayed unconscious.  
  
I feel a burning rage rise up as I write about what they did to me. I pray that I will hold onto my feelings long enough to write about the past five years. When I had awoken, I found myself chained to a cold stone wall in the corner of the room.  
  
I had been stripped of my clothes like a worthless whore and chained to this wall. My naked flesh was numb against the stone of the wall as I huddled into the corner, my knees drawn to my chest. I could distinctly remember soft wails surrounding me like a blanket. There were other women in the room with me. I raised my head when I acknowledged that I was not alone.  
  
I looked around the room in horror. Most of the women were my age, all of them beautiful in their own ways. But their beauty had been tarnished by angry red welts on their naked bodies. Each and every single one of them held these red marks, I was the only one untouched.  
  
My scientific mind could calculate around a hundred women in what seemed a cramped room. There was no space to move a fraction, for fear of hitting someone.  
  
As I looked closely I could see many women were chained to the walls, and to the floor. There was not enough chains in the room to keep everyone tied down and so some women had the luxury of movement.  
  
I envied them.  
  
I shivered from the bitter cold gust of wind that spread through the room. And at that moment, I began to sob. I was not alone in this deed, as many of the women were crying softly. Something beside stirred, it placed a hand on my shoulder and I shrieked from the contact of skin against skin.  
  
"Hush child," A soft and soothing voice whispered into my ear.  
  
I tried to stop the tremors that rocked my body as I looked up into the face of the most amazing woman I had ever seen. She was like an angel that had fallen from heaven into this mad and chaotic universe. Many people have called me beautiful, but I could never compare to this woman. She was in a league of her own.  
  
It was dark and I had to squint to make out her features, but even the darkness could not relinquish the beauty that she beheld. My breath caught in my throat as I found myself staring into a pair of emerald eyes, that were shining brightly even in the time of fear and darkness.  
  
Her skin was color of cream ivory and it seemed to glow with vibrancy in the dark room. I looked at the curly black fountain that was her hair, in awe. To have such contrasting eyes against the ebony hair was simply breathtaking.  
  
Kami would be truly proud if she were an angel, because there was no other way to describe her. She was... Beautiful.  
  
"W-Where am I?" I asked fearfully, not really wanting to know the answer.  
  
I could feel a firm and gentle hand stroke my head, such a comforting gesture that I still haven't forgotten the gentle strokes upon my head. Her voice was eloquent and sounded like jingling bells in my ears. "In a Saiyan slave ship."  
  
"Saiyan slave ship?" I questioned stupidly.  
  
She nodded, still stroking my hair. Apparently, she was mesmerized by my beauty as well as her own. "Yes, they took some citizens from our planet as slaves. Five hundred thousand to be correct. Half of them are men and the other half, female. You have been unconscious for five full days." Her voice grew bitter then, "They purged our home world child. Burned it to a cinder."  
  
I could believe that. My eyes filled with tears. What had happened to my wondrous planet? What had become of the people left on the burning planet?! A frown formed on my face and I asked, "Five days?" She simply nodded again. Five days since my father had died, five days of not being able to mourn his death.  
  
Another five days that these bastard alien creatures owed me and I knew there and then that I would make and weep blood for what they had done. A flash of anger sparked within my veins and I wanted to struggle out of her warm embrace and murder every single one of the Saiyan bastards that dared to destroy my planet.  
  
But there was only one thing that stood prominently in my mind. And that was to kill the Saiyan that had dared to wound and kill my father, the Saiyan that had strangled my mother:-  
  
My eyes must have held so much horror and reckoning that the woman with angel eyes looked upon me in concern. "What is it?" She asked.  
  
"My mother," I choked out, barely containing the pain I felt, "And my brother! What happened to them?" She would not answer me. I began to struggle against her in a hysterical manner, I started to scream and tried to push my way out of her embrace. My brain could not function on anything else and I began to ramble like a raving lunatic, wanting to find my mother within this room of a hundred women.  
  
"Let go of me BITCH!" I screamed, struggling in her grasp as I tried to stand and claw my way out of the chains that held me captive. But she never let go of me. She simply held me close with so much sorrow in those angel eyes.  
  
That was my new nickname for her. Angel Eyes.  
  
The other women in the room ceased their own cries and they turned to look upon the naked, screaming woman that was me. I could hear murmurs of 'She's lost it... The grief was too much for her... Poor girl.' I didn't want their sympathy dammit!! I did not wish for their fucking pity. All I wanted was to see my mother again and my brother Son-kun. I screamed again, my throat began to burn as the scream left it raw. I grew limp, drained of energy from the final scream I had brought up from my tortured soul.  
  
And all was quiet again.  
  
I sobbed into the shoulder of the woman with the emerald eyes. I would never know what happened to my dear sweet mother and brother. "Why?" I croaked between the sobs. It was all I could say, all that my mind could register. Why? Why did this have to happen to me? I didn't even question why all the women in the room were stripped of their clothing. I just kept repeating the word 'Why.'  
  
The cries of the other women had dwindled away when the large door on the far side of the room, was flung open in rage.  
  
I squinted at the new light that entered the room via the door. A large silhouette blocked a out some rays of light and I thought to myself that it looked strangely familiar.  
  
"Who dared to make such noise?" The voice snarled into the darkness. It was the voice of evil. "Speak, or all of you will suffer."  
  
To my horror, each woman excluding Angel Eyes, pointed in my direction. I was hidden by the shadows of the room but he found me nonetheless. I still couldn't see his face as he gripped my upper arm painfully and began to drag me out of the crowded room. As I was drawn away from the beautiful woman, she whispered soothing words in my ear before I was pulled out of earshot by the alien creature that was known as a Saiyan.  
  
I stumbled over some of the rancid, smelling bodies of the naked women. I was gagging to stop myself from vomiting with each step I took towards the door. I had been safe in my little corner, but that preference of safety no longer resided by my side.  
  
I was tossed to the metallic floor outside of the room that had been my prison for five days.  
  
Cruel laughter surrounded me once again, followed by the same voice that had thrown me to the ground. The idea of being without clothes caused a shudder to race down my spine. What would they do to me?  
  
"This is the bitch that was making all the noise. It seems as though she is the only one in her sector that is also untouched." A snarl soon followed. I stared at the gold tipped boots of the man, and tried to gather as much strength as I could.  
  
Five days of being malnourished meant that my strength was depleting. I slowly lifted my head and looked up into the eyes of the same Saiyan that had tried to strangle my mother and, if I put my money on it, it was the same Saiyan that had killed my father.  
  
I suddenly seemed to have a found a new store of strength because I became a savage beast in the instant my eyes fell upon the Saiyan that had tried to strangle my mother. I realized that he might have killed her by now and that already added to a bitter fuel to the raging fire that was already burning inside my soul.  
  
As soon as my eyes locked with his, I found the strength to push myself off the ground and propel my body towards him. He may have been fast, but he was caught off guard and in my rage I became faster. I screamed bloody murder as I pounded my fists into the plates of his armor.  
  
I soon realized that my foolish action had caused me to fly backwards and slam against the door. He had pushed me away with a single 'tap' that caused me to careen with the steel wall. I whimpered as I cradled my limp arm. It had popped out of it's socket upon the hard impact with the wall. I cursed my idiocy and began to cry.  
  
Another jolt of pain coursed through my arm as it was yanked from me. This time a different Saiyain was kneeling beside me and was looking at my limp arm in confusion. Tears blurred my vision as I looked at him, and I tried to pull my arm out of his hold and crawl away. He looked so familiar... But I couldn't place it.  
  
There was another laugh, followed by the crudest statement. "Let the bitch crawl, Raditz. She is nothing but a whore to the soldiers." The voice belonged to the same man that had pushed me against the wall.  
  
I choked on my sobs as I tried to gather enough dignity to hide my naked body from the prying and lust-filled eyes of the men. All except one... Raditz. He merely frowned as he looked into my eyes. I gave him a pleading look, one that could have melted the heart of a beast.  
  
But he merely ignored it.  
  
I was pulled to my feet again, by the same Saiyan that had thrown me out into the hallway. "Insolent wench. You need to be taught your place." He sneered into my face. He looked so much like Raditz that I couldn't believe how different they seemed in personality.  
  
Once again, I was flung to the floor. The man crawled over me on all fours and I could seem him begin to remove his armor. The other men simply looked away and I wanted to scream at them. How could they let him do this to me? Did they have no ounce of conscience within them to give me mercy and end my suffering at the hands of this monster?  
  
But in some celestial knowledge, I knew what would happen to me in the hallway of that fateful day. I twisted my head so that I did not have to look upon his face as he defiled my body in the worst way a man could have done.  
  
I fought like a rabid dog against him as his clumsy hands touched my body. I kicked and screamed and tore at his flesh but the more I fought, the more aroused he became. I wish he was here now so that I could plunge my hand into his chest and draw out his heart. I would gladly drink his life source away for all that was happening.  
  
As the Saiyans hands slid southwards, I grew dizzy with disgust and felt myself slipping into unconsciousness. I was doing that frequently. But as I was about to slip into the black envelope at the touch of the Saiyan's dirty hands, I heard a voice called out. "Stop!"  
  
Then all was black."  
  
~*~  
  
Bra gasped in the pause, at the words her mother had written. A pool of tears brimmed in her large eyes. "Oh, Momma..." She whispered, looking sadly into her mother's face. She knew she had suffered a great deal in her past, but had not known to what extent.  
  
Bulma raised her hand. "You wanted to listen to my past, daughter. So please, no interruptions." Bulma said somewhat coldly. It wasn't fair that she was being forced to relive these memories, but she knew Bra wanted to know what had happened. She couldn't deny her daughter the truth.  
  
The young azure-haired woman simply smiled piteously and placed a gentle kiss on her mothers cheek. "I'm sorry Momma. Please go on."  
  
The older, more weary woman sighed in frustration. "Forgive me chiding you Bra-chan. I-It's just hard for me to read what is written."  
  
Without waiting for her daughter to reply, Bulma turned the page of the papyrus papered diary and cleared her throat.  
  
~*~  
  
"The dark bliss surrounding me began to fade and I awoke once again to the reality I had been thrown into. This time, I could feel heavy and warm covers blanketing my naked body. I sighed, still not fully awake and relaxed into the covers. I thought, like a fool, that I had been dreaming and that I was still on Chikyuu-sei with my family intact.  
  
A cold voice brought my hopes tumbling down. "Awake so soon?" The baritone voice chuckled condescendingly, as though he had just spoken the great joke known to man. I groaned from the disappointment as I tried to sit up, my body trembling in fear at the previous encounter I had with a male Saiyan. He had been stopped, but I had no idea as to who stopped him.  
  
It was a lucky break for me that he was stopped. But I soon found out that it would have been ten times better than the fate that was to befall me.  
  
I was in a warm yet large room. Flames from the candles in the room danced against the wall in a joyous kinetic energy, but I found that the room was still shrouded in darkness somehow. The black spots in my eyes began to fade with each slow blink I took.  
  
It was then that I saw him.  
  
He was the undoubtedly the most handsome man I had seen in a long while. Perhaps not the best looking, but there was something in his features that was so dark and dangerous, it would make any girl swoon with desire.  
  
The way in which he looked at me, was not helping in any way.  
  
As I stared at the features of the man, I gasped in realization to the familiarity he bore with Son-kun. Albeit this man carried himself off with a dark manner indeed. "What's going on?" I asked in a slow and low voice.  
  
"You are in the Prince's personal chambers, girl." He spoke to me as though I were a child.  
  
I frowned at his comment. "Now that we've established where I am. What am I doing here?"  
  
Somehow, the menace in my voice only caused him purr and growl at the same time. I soon acknowledged that it was his way of laughing. "Stop laughing!" I snapped, my temper beginning to return.  
  
I froze as he abruptly stopped chuckling and snarled at me. "Hold your tongue, wench."  
  
I shivered at the cold tone of his voice.  
  
I was about to speak again when the noise of sliding doors opened and I caught myself staring into a pair of cold and calculating eyes.  
  
I hadn't known that those eyes would have been my downfall.  
  
The Saiyan that sat on the bed jumped as though he were a puppet on strings. I watched in sick fascination as he bowed on one knee to the man with the glittering eyes. "Ouji-sama." He had said. I thought to myself... A Prince?  
  
My lips parted as I took in his appearance as much as the candle light would allow me. He stood in a regal fashion, a red cape encircling his broad and muscled shoulders. His hair was swept into a deadly flame, defying all laws of gravity. But it was his eyes that held my attention.  
  
They were as black as ebony and they were twinkling with... Anger.  
  
I swallowed, trying to whet my dry throat as a feral and predatory smile... No, smirk, emblazoned his tanned features. The other Saiyan that had been at my side had become a distant memory and I didn't even recall him leaving the room.  
  
The room began to spin again as the flame-haired Saiyan advanced upon me with the smirk still plastered across his features. He did not speak, only reached out for me and-  
  
~  
  
Shit, shit, shit! I forgot that today was a special day in the calendar for Saiyans. It is a full red moon on the planet Vegeta-sei today, a most auspicious day for them. It is the day when the Saiyans are at the most vulnerable state, their senses and emotions are all heightened on this day. A full moon only comes every two years on Vegeta-sei, so it is enough cause for them to celebrate. Another detail I must give later on.  
  
My master was angry at me. But I find it strange that he did not do anything to harm me. I would have normally left his room covered in bruises if he was angry, at me or at something else, he would always take it out on my body as he...  
  
But today, he looked right through me, as though he was looking into my soul.  
  
"Very well." Was the only thing he had mumbled as he gave me a pained and angry look, before he left the chambers. My heart twisted in my rib cage. The anger I could understand, but the pain? That was something new, even to me.  
  
I had never seen such an expression on his face.  
  
I must say, it felt good to see in him pain. I almost chuckled out loud at the expression on his face. Insane laughter was bubbling delightfully in the pit of my stomach as he left with his head bowed. How grand!! My master, with his head bowed. I was a cause for celebration. I wanted to dance around the room like a little, singing at the top of my lungs of his misery.  
  
I know that I shall sleep easy tonight."  
  
~*~  
  
Bulma let go of a breath she did not know she was holding. The second entry was shorter than the first, but it had not been a good day for her to have written. She had already been pushing lady lucks button by forgetting the special Saiyan occasion.  
  
The younger woman shook her head in amazement. How could her mother have rejoiced in someone else's misery? It was certainly not in her character to do that. But then again, Bra took into account that her mother had been on the fringes of her sanity when she had written in that diary.  
  
A soft smile lightened Bulma's face. She gently kissed the top if her daughter's head before turning to the third entry of the diary. It wasn't becoming easier to relive the memories, but she was growing accustomed to the awkward feelings she was experiencing.  
  
Bra snuggled closer into her mother's side, now deathly afraid of the written content in her diary.  
  
What made her so certain that her mother hadn't gone insane from the hidden memories?  
  
~*~  
  
In my heart there is the sharpest pain,  
  
The darkest clouds are in my brain,  
  
The anger was so immense and the rage so deep,  
  
Each time he took my sanity.  
  
~*~  
  
AN: How was that? Review and let me know!! There is a twist in the next chapter. Next chapter will be up soon. (Day after tomorrow).  
  
*SPOILER* Expect Vegeta's POV soon. How you ask? hehe... Leave that up to me.  
  
Please review, it won't take long and I'd love to know what you thought. 


	3. Reckoning

AN: The big twist is revealed in this chapter... Well it isn't really big, but it's a twist!  
  
~*~  
  
Just as Bulma was about to speak again, a soft tap on the bedroom door interrupted the fragile moment.  
  
Bulma's eyes grew in fear as she grasped her grown daughter tightly to her chest, "He's here!" She whispered fearfully into Bra's ear.  
  
Bra tried to pull herself out of her mother's death grip. She gently stroked her mother's cheek in a comforting gesture. "Momma, I have to answer the door." She watched as her mother reluctantly let her go, retreating back into the sullen visage she had been before.  
  
Rising up from the chair, Bra slowly made her way across the large room and opened the door. She came face to face with a woman with a bright and cheerful blond-haired woman, attired in a full nurse's uniform. The nurse held up a tray full of bottles.  
  
"Time for your mother's medicine!" She crooned in a sickeningly vibrant tone. The shadow of a muscular man stood behind the energetic nurse.  
  
Bra threw a look over her shoulder, checking her mother's position. "But, I thought I was allowed to stay with her the whole night! She was just beginning to open up to me!" Bra hissed in alarm.  
  
The nurse shook her head sadly, "I'm sorry sweetie, maybe another time. I'm just doing my job. Your mother needs to rest now, you'll have all the time in the world to speak to her later."  
  
Bra let a rush of air flow past her teeth. "Make it fast," she whispered, turning around and maneuvering herself to her mother's slumped form. It were as though she was desperately trying to mold herself into the chair, and disappear.  
  
The young blue-haired woman crouched down before her mother, "Momma, it's time for some medicine to make you feel better. You want to feel better, don't you?" She asked softly, wincing at the patronizing tone of her voice.  
  
Her mother nodded hesitantly, still thumbing through the thick diary. She place her small and bony hand into that of her daughter's allowing herself to be pulled up.  
  
Bulma turned to face the woman with the blonde-hair, she smiled gently. "Is it time already? I still have to talk to Bra-chan about many things... Terrible things." Her voice had grown considerably childish, yet contained the weariness of an adult that had seen many horrors. She didn't seem to notice the dark figure in the corner of the room, her mind not aware of her surroundings, which was a good thing at present.  
  
The nurse smiled back, her dazzling white teeth sparkling in the rays of the setting sun. She did not take any notice of the blue-haired woman's strange behavior. She walked up to the beautiful woman and led her quickly to the bed. "I know you do dear, but you can always talk to Bra-chan later, can't you?" Her voice held no remorse as she spoke to the elder woman as though she were a mere child of five. "Lay down and then you can go to sleep. You like sleep don't you?"  
  
Bulma was now laying completely on the bed, her pale blue eyes looking up at the kind woman in wonder. "I enjoy sleeping-" As her mouth opened, the nurse shoved a spoon full of thick purple liquid into her mouth. Bulma swallowed it without fuss, "But I have to-" Another spoon full of medicine was rammed down her throat. This time it was green and tasted like fish oil. She made a face, clamping her mouth shut. She had forgotten how horrible the green medicine tasted.  
  
Another spoon full of clear liquid hovered over her lips. Bulma shook her head adamantly, not wanting to take anymore.  
  
The nurse sighed in defeat, "The terrible man will come back if you don't take the final spoon of medicine. Do you want the awful man to come back, Bulma?"  
  
She shook her head, fear sparkling in her cerulean eyes as she reluctantly opened her mouth. Tears blurred her vision as the burning liquid traveled down her throat, leaving the trail of a bittersweet taste on her tongue. The clear liquid was the worst of the three medicines. She yawned as the effectiveness of the medicine kicked in. Sleep swallowed her into its gentle embrace, enfolding around her like a thick, warm blanket. Sleep was good, sleep was her friend. A small smile formed on Bulma's lips. She enjoyed sleeping, it always seemed to drive her troubles away.  
  
The nurse twisted the caps on the bottle again and smiled at the young girl that had now perched herself on the edge of the bed, holding her mother's frail sleeping hand. "We'll have her back in no time, Ma'am."  
  
Bra nodded in reply and watched quietly as the woman left the room with a bounce in her step. As the door clicked shut, her eyes caught notice of the figure standing by the large window, looking out at the sea front and setting sun. She pulled her hand out of her mother's and padded up to the figure gazing out of the window.  
  
~*~  
  
"What are we going to do?" Bra whispered as she found herself standing beside the man, looking in the direction of the setting sun.  
  
A soft grunt was her only reply.  
  
Bra reached out and gently grasped the man's hand, gripping it tightly.  
  
The man turned to her and scowled furiously, but the affectionate look on his face was not lost upon the young woman. "She's losing it, Daddy... We'll never get her back." Bra sobbed out in grief, unable to return her gaze to the cold look of her father's raven black eyes.  
  
"Brat," his gruff voice was soothing to the irate young woman, "How is she?" The cold tone of his voice belied the suffering that was underneath his stoic demeanor.  
  
Bra shook her head, looking despondently at her father. "She's delusional," she replied as tactfully as she could. "Her whole memory has been tangled in this odd web lies that she had constructed. She told me how the Saiyans came to Earth and-"  
  
"That is true," Vegeta interrupted, seeing the desperation in his daughter. "Saiyans did come here on Earth, but only three and those two died. I am the soul survivor of our Saiyan race, along with your idiot husband's brain dead father, Kakarott." He watched irately as his daughter tried to hide the small smile on her lips.  
  
Bra sighed, "I know the story... You came in search of the Dragonballs and I know you're still sour about being beaten by Goten's father. I know the whole story Daddy! But this was different. She told me that she had been captured, taken on a ship to Vegeta-sei, your home planet. She said she had been made a slave and had even described one of the slaves in the ship to a 'T' almost as though she had actually met the woman."  
  
Vegeta arched his thick eyebrow. The things his daughter was speaking of seemed completely absurd, but he knew that every single detail was true. His daughter was not one to lie, nor was his mate, had she been in the right mind. "We seem to be losing your mother day by day, daughter."  
  
Bra nodded in agreement, "Oh Dende, if you could have heard the tales she had concocted from the half-truths and broken past in her mind... It was, frightening. I was afraid for her, Daddy. I still am."  
  
"I do not doubt that," he mused quietly. His gaze returned to the setting sun, a dark cloud of emotions rising in his features. "It is a shame that she starts to scream and writhe in my presence. She can't even look at me without wailing or falling unconscious. It is my own fault that she is in this position." He said darkly, feeling his shoulder slump. They seemed to weigh more than usual to the Saiyan man.  
  
Bra wrapped her own arm around her father's, it was the only way he allowed her to hug him. "Don't say that Daddy, she just... Something must have triggered her to be this way." The intellectual mind her mother once had was not wasted upon the younger woman.  
  
She looked up at the profile of her father's face and saw a flicker of reckoning dance over his normally stony face. It was as though he had known exactly what had triggered this bout of insanity in her mother. She frowned, about to say something when his voice stopped her short.  
  
"How does she recall her so-called memories?" He asked wearily. The past month had been a tumultuous time for the former Saiyan Prince.  
  
"Through a diary. Her diary." Bra said absently, watching the different colors of purple and pink streak the sky. She tilted her head in awe. It was surprising that no matter how many times she witnessed a sunset, it always looked dangerously beautiful to her.  
  
The flame-haired man frowned. "Diary?"  
  
Bra nodded and went to the chair her mother had previously sat on. She picked up the thick papyrus papered book. Carefully, she handed it to her father. "Here, this is the diary she read to me from."  
  
Vegeta examined the book in confusion. Since when had his mate kept a diary? He opened it slowly and felt his frown deepen. "There is nothing in here!" He growled angrily.  
  
Bra gasped and tore the book from his hands. She zipped through the empty pages carelessly, "What?" She sputtered indignantly, "B-but she read her entries from here! Daddy, I swear on Dende-"  
  
"That is enough, Bra." Vegeta said solemnly. This farce had gone on long enough. "Leave me with your mother, I wish to spend time alone with her." He tried to keep the hurt out of his voice. He could only be in the company of his mate when she was asleep. She would not even look upon him if she were awake and so he had resolutely demanded the doctor of the mental institution to allow him a small shred of decency and let him stay in her presence during her sleeping hours.  
  
"But-"  
  
"Not now, Bra." He grounded out in annoyance. He needed time to think!  
  
Bra blinked slowly, utterly hurt by her father's reaction. "Alright," she stood up on tip toes and softly kissed his cheek, wanting to laugh as his expression soured. He had always hated outward shows of affection. And much to his chagrin, his daughter enjoyed watching his sputtering reactions whenever she showed a gesture of love in his direction.  
  
"But," she continued, "If she wakes up, for Dende's sake and yours, just leave the room."  
  
He glared sharply at her, knowing that she meant well. He couldn't even speak to his won fucking mate because every time she laid eyes upon him, she would burst into different forms of epileptic fits! "Fine!" He snapped back. He regretted his harsh tone as a hurt look fell upon the sweet and angelic face that mirrored his mate's. He winced inwardly.  
  
"Ok," she said softly. With her head bowed in shame, she pulled her arm from her father's and turned to leave.  
  
She halted, finding her father's hand gripping her upper arm. She looked up questioningly into his ebony colored eyes that neither herself or her brother had inherited.  
  
"She will be ok, won't she?" His voice seemed to quiver with the unchecked emotions. And at that moment, Vegeta had never felt as vulnerable as he had in all his life.  
  
Bra smiled sadly, rushing into her father and hugging him tightly. The hug was not returned, but she didn't care. "I hope so, Daddy. I hope so." With the final parting whispered, she quickly left the embrace and exited the room, suddenly feeling suffocated.  
  
~*~  
  
Thoughts of her mother still lingered as Bra found her husband waiting patiently for her in the lobby of the hospital. She let one sob of fear escape her lips, as she buried herself in his strong embrace. "Goten, I don't think she'll ever be the same.." Bra cried softly into the strong shoulder of her husband.  
  
"Let's go home honey. You need to rest, or you'll wear yourself down." His strong and masculine voice comforted her greatly. He laced his arm around her waist and guided her out of the hospital.  
  
Bra sniffled, gently resting her head on her husband's shoulder as they slowly walked towards the exit. "She's a different person now, Goten."  
  
"How?" He asked curiously.  
  
"She has all these different memories that make her think of another time and place. Even the reason I was conceived must be different from the reality." She said dully.  
  
"How is Vegeta taking it so far?" He grimaced as he spoke his father in- law's name.  
  
Bra shook her head, "He's pretending to be unaffected by it. But I know it's eating him up inside. I'm scared of what he will do if Momma ever truly does leave us," she whispered sadly.  
  
Goten squeezed her waist tightly, lightly kissing the top of her head. "Everything will be ok." He said firmly, but he couldn't help but feel a pang of doubt resound in his head.  
  
As they slowly made their way out of the hospital Goten grimaced at the sign that was plastered across the sliding doors.  
  
'Thank you for visiting the West City Mental Institute. We hope you enjoyed your stay.'  
  
He shook his head at the ironically written farewell note. It would be enough to drive anyone away from the hospital, kicking and screaming.  
  
~*~  
  
The setting sun had all but disappeared. All that was left was small fluffy gray clouds dotted across night sky. Vegeta could barely make out the shining stars under the haze of the polluted fog that blanketed the city. The waves of the sea beyond the hospital, crashed against the shore in a rhythmic motion, enough to make any strong-willed man sea sick.  
  
He tossed the 'diary' back into the chair and slowly made his way back to the slumbering woman.  
  
Pulling up a chair, he sat in the dark night, content on watching her sleep. It was the only thing Vegeta could do to determine her presence. She might as well have been dead to him in the day time, knowing full well that he could not visit if she was in a conscious state.  
  
Carefully, he reached out and brushed away a stray strand of blue hair that was plastered on her cheek. He didn't even know why that gesture caused him such pain. It would have been better if he had never laid eyes upon the blue-haired beauty, he thought bitterly to himself .  
  
He had been the one to inflict such pain upon her. It was his fault and he knew it. The other's, his woman's friends, had tried to convince him that Bulma's mental health was not caused by him.  
  
They couldn't have been more wrong.  
  
He closed his eyes, enjoying the sensation of her smooth and unblemished skin under his own hand. How long had it been since he had held her in their lover embrace? It seemed like an eternity since their bodies had moved together passionately, in the sacred dance of two lovers.  
  
A cold lump formed in his throat, which he desperately tried to swallow. Visions of their couplings flashed through his mind. He thought of the many serene moments they had shared together, in which they had both bared their souls. It was in those times that he had held her close and listened to her soothing voice, lull him into a deep sleep.  
  
It was because of her, his own nightmares had stopped. But even in their most intimate moments, Vegeta could see he was losing her. On some spiritual level, he could see the slow but gradual change that was taking place in his mate. And he had allowed it to happen. He hadn't stop the inevitable change and now, she was completely lost to him.  
  
Like a fool, he had ignored her and now the consequences he suffered did not compare to any other pain he had felt before. From a distance, he could have almost sensed the imaginary voice that seemed to be speaking to her, slowly driving her to become a different person.  
  
But he didn't do anything about it and it turned her into the odd woman she was today. He continued to believe and convince himself that their was nothing he could have done about it, nothing he could have destroyed or killed to make her better because the only thing causing her to change, was herself.  
  
He couldn't help but remember the times he had seen her retreat into her own mind. As if she was shunning the really world and creating her own little dream world. He snarled, wondering how he could save her. There seemed no explainable answer to cure her!  
  
The painful memories were too much for him to bear.  
  
He growled as he forced himself to remember their last moments together, her last moment of sanity prior to when she crumbled before his eyes into the unknown woman she was today.  
  
He knew now that it was entirely his fault for having taken her sanity. And he choked on a strangled cry as the memories rolled over him like a terrible nightmare. In despair he tried to pull away from them, not wanting to remember the memory. It was too much, the pain couldn't be fathomed as he drowned in the dire memory.  
  
What was she doing to him? If Vegeta hadn't been careful, he may have found himself being dragged into his wife's insanity and then... They both would have been lost.  
  
~*~  
  
Living here on God's green earth,  
  
This is how another human life,  
  
Could have the power to take over mine,  
  
And I will deliver you to Heaven's gates,  
  
Because you are always and forever,  
  
My beloved.  
  
~*~  
  
AN: I know it's a bad place to stop! But it will keep you all guessing more about what he had done to her, right?  
  
Anyway, good? Bad? Review and let me know, it won't take long.  
  
Strange twist right?  
  
HAPPY EASTER. 


	4. The Past

Disclaimer: I don't own lyrics used from the song 'Seven Years' by Norah Jones.  
  
AN: There was a bit of confusion as to Bulma's state in the last chapter, let me clear that up! Basically, Bulma *has* gone insane. All those things she read from the diary are completely untrue!  
  
She's in her own fantasy world and is creating her own reality. But we don't know the reason why she's like that. It's up to Vegeta to get her back to normal and FYI, Dragonballs won't work.. hehe I'm so cruel!  
  
~*~  
  
Her skin glittered as a thin film of sweat covered her body.  
  
Vegeta frowned, sitting in the large chair as he leaned closer to the bed, catching small murmurs of the torrential dreams that evaded her sleep. He lightly touched her forehead with his thumb, brushing away the few wisps of sea-blue hair.  
  
He scowled violently, not liking his show of weakness and he wondered if she would dissipate under his touch, as though it were he who was dreaming.  
  
Milky rays of light from the holographic moon, filtered through the gauzy and billowing white curtains. He tilted his head, lost in thought, as the rays danced off her pale flesh that was devoid of any coloring. The lack of color in her cheeks gave the illusion of death to Vegeta.  
  
He narrowed his Saiyan eyes in the dark room, focusing on the table clock. He grunted, not in the least bit surprised that he had been sitting in the same position for over three hours. The red numbers flashed in the dark, giving off a red hue to the corner of the room.  
  
Breathing a labored sigh of exhaustion, he slumped back ungracefully into the chair. He couldn't seem to bat away the memories that forced themselves into his mind. He had been trying for hours to fight them off, but he found that he could not fight them any longer.  
  
A wry smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth as he recalled their tumultuous reunion. His brows furrowed, remembering that even back then he had witnessed signs of her mental instability, but had brushed it away, not even regarding the obvious signs.  
  
Vegeta gazed longingly at the pursed lips of his mate, undenying of the memories that took over his mind.  
  
~*~  
  
"Stay out of my way, baka!" Vegeta snarled through his bared teeth. The moronic earthling snorted. At him!  
  
"Why don't you just get back on the spaceship you stole from the Briefs and float in outer space like the piece of shit you are, for the rest of your life, you murderer!" Yamcha wheezed, cradling his broken and bloody jaw in the palm of his hand. Drops of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth as he spoke.  
  
Vegeta narrowed his eyes dangerously, "I'd be careful what you say next, worm." His voice grew eerily calm.  
  
"Or what?" Yamcha chortled, indifferently.  
  
"Or I will give you more than a broken jaw," Vegeta growled, stepping forward. "And then, you'll be begging me to end your pathetic life."  
  
Yamcha gulped, backing away momentarily. "I'm only protecting what's mine!" He cried in defense.  
  
The Saiyan Prince had to chuckle, "What? You're trying to protect the little earthling woman from me?" He continued to advance upon the scar- faced warrior, "I don't give a shit about your little whore, so you can stop worrying about her. If I were you, I would worry about my own safety." He said quietly, eyes glittering with rage.  
  
"Yeah right!" Yamcha scoffed, wincing as his jaw began to ache again, "You're a murderer, a cold-blooded killer! Hell, you could even be a rapist and I have a right to protect her from you!"  
  
Vegeta was suddenly growing extremely bored of the continuous cycle this conversation held. It seemed as though where ever he encountered the scar- faced human, this conversation always followed.  
  
It was almost as if some higher being was torturing him by making him spar verbally with the weakling about the same topic for weeks on hand.  
  
It was the first time that he had actually lashed out and physically harmed the pathetic creature before him.  
  
The routine was too tedious for Vegeta and he needed some new leverage. Growling, he shook his head and retreated towards the back door of the Capsule Corp. compound that led to the kitchen.  
  
"That's right, walk away, coward!" Yamcha's voice called out from what he thought was a safe distance.  
  
Vegeta smirked, knowing full well that the weak earthling had no clue about his attuned Saiyan senses. He turned around and flashed a glare that would have melted the entire Arctic.  
  
He suppressed an evil chuckle as he watched the scar-faced human stumble backwards and fly away from the large dome building, not giving a second glance back and leaving the stench of urine in his wake.  
  
Feeling much more at ease for terrorizing the human, Vegeta flipped the latch of the sliding glass door and entered the kitchen swiftly.  
  
A pair of bright blue eyes followed his every move as he made his way to the fridge.  
  
Ignoring the gaze, he flung the wide shining steel door open and retrieved a large bottle of water from the inside of the door. Slamming the door shut, he turned around again and hid his startled expression as the blue eyes were now face to face with his own.  
  
His right brow creased slightly, wanting to edge away from the nearness of her body. "Move," he demanded quietly, gripping the bottle in his hand so tightly that he was afraid of popping it.  
  
"Don't hit him again," she whispered at him, her smooth voice floating towards him in a melodious manner.  
  
"I can't help it if the baka doesn't stay out of my way!" Vegeta snapped, suspicious of the woman's strange behavior. He had been on the planet for almost a week, since his unruly journey to space in search of Kakarott, and in that week he could sense something was amiss with the beautiful woman that stood before him. He shrugged mentally, not caring one bit.  
  
The look in her eyes changed his perspective on things. She gave him the look of a hungry woman. The glimmering blue orbs danced around his face, devouring every dent and every scar that marred his face. He was taken aback when a small and soft hand reached out and touched his cheek softly.  
  
"Vegeta," she breathed as she edged even closer. "Please don't hurt him again?" The husky tone of her voice and her quivering lower lip was enough to drive any sane man crazy with desire.  
  
"What do you want, woman?" He growled in annoyance, trying in vain to control himself. It was beyond comprehension how a small woman a herself could yield such an effect upon him.  
  
The soft, stroking gesture ceased as she removed her hand from his cheek. "Leave him alone or else." She said firmly, before whirling around and striding out of the room.  
  
He gaped at her retreating back, scowling at the odd interaction that had just had.  
  
Shrugging it off, he made his way through the back doors and continued to walk towards the amazing gravity simulator the woman had built him. He could not deny that she was indeed a genius... Odd, but a genius nonetheless.  
  
~*~  
  
A soft moan brought him out of the memory.  
  
Vegeta raised his eyes to the ceiling in defeat. He should have seen his mate's instability from the beginning! But he had just dismissed it, like a fool, and now he was suffering the consequences. He would Heaven and Earth to have her back to the way she was when she was sane.  
  
He smirked as he remembered a catatonic argument they had, following the strange event in the kitchen. She had seemed so normal at that time... She was the woman that Vegeta had fallen in love with. Not this withering and pale woman that tossed in her sleep.  
  
~*~  
  
"YOU'RE SUCH AN ASS!" She shrieked at him from the top of her lungs.  
  
"Quiet woman, you will do exactly as I say, or I'll blow this planet to smithereens." He glared at her menacingly, unaware that his usual threat on the planet's life wouldn't work.  
  
Bulma gripped the large wrench in her hand tightly, she could feel the blood leave her knuckles and turn them into a blanched state. "Get out," she whispered, turning away from him and returning her fixed gaze on a prototype on the desk of her lab.  
  
Vegeta narrowed his eyes, giving her backside the once over. She had looked rather fetching in her blue overalls, cheeks smeared with oil and hair tied back in a messy bun. Albeit she looked good, she had still defied his direct order.  
  
He stormed over to her, not liking her cold treatment of him. Grabbing her arm, he forced her to look at him. "I mean it bitch, you will do as I say and build the drones!" He spat, his smoldering eyes enflamed with rage. He had never once been denied of anything in his life, even in Frieza's service and he was beginning to find out that he didn't like it.  
  
"FUCK YOU VEGETA, FUCK YOU!" She screamed, trying unsuccessfully to wrench her arm out of his grasp. "Let go of me, now!" She hissed, like a defensive feline.  
  
"Not until you tell me you're building those drones." He snarled at her through gritted teeth.  
  
"Fine!" She cried in exasperation. Vegeta smirked in triumph as he loosened his grip on her arm. The smirk was soon replaced by a frown at her next remark. "But if you ever touch me again, I'll sick Goku on you!" He was caught off guard when a hand descended upon his cheek, petting it in a rough manner.  
  
Vegeta felt droplets of black oil trickle down his cheek. He gawked at her momentarily as she laughed at his dumb-struck state. All he could do was sputter with rage as she turned back to continue tinkering with the strange object on her desk.  
  
~*~  
  
The soft moans had turned into full blown cries in an instant.  
  
Vegeta sighed in annoyance, as any man in his position would have done. The little moment in her lab had been rare and he had lost his temper, eventually smashing the gadget on her desk and in turn, earning an ear full of shrieks and screams.  
  
He stood up from the comfortable chair and quietly made his way towards his mate. The painful cries that were coming from her mouth, caused the Saiyan Prince to wince slightly. He kneeled by the side of the bed and buried his face in the crook of her neck, inhaling the soft lavender scent of her hair and purring against the back of her ear. It was the only thing he could do to make her cries fade away.  
  
He gently took her hand and examined it carefully in the pale light of the moon. The fine-boned structure looked absolutely minuscule under his own and he suddenly felt like a very conscious giant.  
  
Vegeta scowled as he noted that he could break the frail hand with just a flex of his own hand and the thought brought him no comfort.  
  
The whimpering cries had quieted, but he could still hear the strange words that she muttered under her breath.  
  
"Don't hurt me," her sleeping form whispered in the cold night air, "I'll be good from now on, just please don't hurt me!" Vegeta stared at her, pain etching its way onto his features. There was a pregnant pause before her murmurs began once again. "Daddy, please come back! I promise I'll never yell at you again!" She started to flail in against him and Vegeta drew away, his lips pressed together in a grim line.  
  
Her outbursts were not uncommon to him and the had gotten used to the odd, underlying messages she cried out into the night. The first time she had cried out in her sleep, Vegeta had almost felt himself slipping into her insanity.  
  
He was afraid that it was catching and had stopped visiting her for a whole week. But the separation wasn't long, for he could not stay away from her and he found himself returning each night to be in her presence.  
  
As her cries dwindled away to nothing, Vegeta stood abruptly and mechanically pulled away the clothes from his body. The need to have her overwhelmed any sense of reason within the Prince and it was then that he had an inkling of falling into her insanity.  
  
Stripping down to his boxers, he lifted the covers and slipped in beside her. He twisted uncomfortably in the single bed and breathed a sigh of satisfaction as he pulled her body close to his. Entwining his arms around her stomach, he brought her the small of her back into his pelvis and buried his face in the silky strands of her blue hair.  
  
He knew she wouldn't wake for another few hours because of her medication and so he was content to just lay beside her until the time came for him to leave.  
  
Slowly inhaling her wondrous scents, he wondered why the Gods had to be as cruel as to allow him access to her body, but have her heart and soul torn away from him. It was almost as though karma had fallen upon him and was finally claiming everything Vegeta held dear, for the crimes he had committed in the past.  
  
It was true that he had received enough punishment from the Gods, but he secretly pondered when the never ending torture would stop.  
  
He was a changed man, why couldn't the vengeful spirits let him live in peace? Instead, they had decided to ensnare his mate in their clutches and he felt that the Gods were punishing him through the odd emotion of love he felt.  
  
He sneered into the fluff of blue hair, lightly brushing his lips over Bulma's tear-streaked face. It was no surprise that she had been crying in her sleep. It was a common thing for him to see, alongside the cries and mind-bending murmurs.  
  
Choking back his growls, he stroked her stomach as he was lulled to sleep by the rhythmic pounding of her heart against his own rib cage. He lightly nipped at the faded scar on her neck.  
  
"Come back little woman, or else I'll go insane myself and blast everyone into oblivion, myself included," he whispered in a threatening tone against her cheek.  
  
She seemed so frail and small in his arms that he couldn't even recall the lustrous curves she had once been graced with. He was afraid of the slightest movement of his body, fearing she would break in his hold.  
  
With this fear, he allowed sleep to wash over him.  
  
But as one knows, dreams are never a source of escape for troubled minds.  
  
~*~  
  
Fragile as a leaf in autumn,  
  
Just falling to the ground,  
  
Without a sound.  
  
A crooked little smile, on her face.  
  
Tells a tale of grace,  
  
That's all her own.  
  
She's little girl with nothing wrong,  
  
But she's all alone.  
  
~*~  
  
AN: Ok, that's the end of chapter 4. There will be more flashbacks coming in future chapters. Wow.. You're reviews were wonderful! Thanks to DarkAngelB, got_sam, Trinity, StarSweeper, nikki, Nicka, carolyn, AirForceArmygurl, Melina and KamalaKali (love the art in your bio!). Special thanks to Camaro for that *long* and amazing review she left. I can't believe you actually liked my fanfic.. heh, as you can see, not very confident of my writing skills but that's another story. Thanks for reviewing, you rock!  
  
Right, so please review and let me know your thoughts! I hope you all liked it.  
  
*Heartless* 


	5. The Truth

A/N: School's been a drag, a reason for the late chapter. Thanks for all your reviews! Another twist is lurking around the corner! What do I mean? Read and find out...  
  
~*~  
  
Secrets shadowed,  
  
Lurking in the darkness.  
  
I hold my breath,  
  
Waiting for them to be revealed.  
  
--Heartless  
  
~*~  
  
The stray red beam of ki hurtled towards him, unnoticed.  
  
Vegeta grunted as he took on the brunt of the droid's attack, not allowing himself to enflame his aura in a shield. Pain was his sanctuary for now and he indulged in it. He welcomed the smell of burning flesh as he fell forwards, breathless from the continuous hours of training he endured. The gravity machine whirred quietly, the only noise being caused as he lay on the cool aluminum floor of the simulator. One question was presenting his mind throughout the rigorous training session;  
  
Why was he training?  
  
There was not threat of evil, for now. He didn't know why the sudden urge to train had overtaken him, ever since Bulma fell ill.  
  
He grimaced in the floor, knowing exactly why he was choosing to train at such intensity. It was so that he could get his mind off of his mate, erase the memories he had shared with her. He didn't want to feel any emotional pain and so he had turned to his only outlet... Physical pain.  
  
Another ball of ki, from his own attack, bounced off the droids in the simulator and crash landed squarely onto his back. He bit back a cry of pain, biting his tongue as he endured the merciless torture of letting the ki shroud his body and absorb into him, not defending himself in the least.  
  
"Simulator... Shut down!" He croaked with great effort.  
  
A large beep echoed around the curved walls and a computerized voice spoke out, unaffected by the goings on in the simulator. "Engaging shut down sequence... One moment please." The red glow of the simulator faded and the normal bright lights shone in its place. The faint whir of the machine ceased. "Simulator shut down, complete. Do not forget to put on more clothing when you leave. Loss of body heat after training results in a power shortage for your ki. Have a nice day Mr. Vegeta."  
  
Vegeta grimaced at the farewell the computer voice had given. Bulma had installed the voice in the simulator to have a mind of its own. A long time ago she told him, with a mischievous glint in her eyes, that the gravity simulator's computer voice was his only friend and that he should respect it. He had merely scowled and ignored her futile attempts to befriend him... He wished to the Gods he could have been more agreeable to her. He had caused her so much pain in the past, that it was a surprise her sanity had even lasted this long.  
  
Faded memories assaulted his thoughts as he lay bleeding on the gravity simulator's floor. For the first time since Bulma had fallen ill, he allowed himself to recall their last moments together, before her sanity was ripped from her.  
  
~*~  
  
The large dome of the Capsule Corp. mansion was strangely quiet.  
  
Not a word had been uttered between himself and his mate for an entire week.  
  
The argument that had occurred prior to the deafening silence, was one of the worst they had since their union. It was beyond all aspects of terrible... It had been shattering. The entire mansion seemed to have trembled under their screams of defense and accusations.  
  
The argument had not been about anything in particular, but Vegeta had sensed a tension between himself and Bulma in the past weeks, and it had been growing thick and brittle between themselves, like a wall of emotional poison. The argument... No, he couldn't call it an argument, for it was a full-blown fight, had terrible repercussions in the week residing.  
  
They had not spoke a single monosyllabic word to one another, opting to ignore the situation completely.  
  
And that was where the problem had began.  
  
~*~  
  
Vegeta snorted as he slipped into the empty large king size bed, stripped of his clothing. He stared at the shadows that danced off the ceiling, from the tress. He and Bulma had not spoken a word to each other, since their extremely loud fight in the previous week.  
  
He sneered into the dark, not even able to recall what they had been fighting about. It seemed petty now, but at the time, it was the most important thing ever to be encountered to either of them. And now, he couldn't even remember the stupid argument.  
  
He had gone an entire week without holding his mate, without making love to her... Without speaking to her. He was surprised to find that he missed that aspect the most. He missed their intelligent conversations that occurred in the small hours of the night, after the world outside had come to a standstill. He turned on his side and stared at the empty and cold space beside him, hating the idea of not having Bulma in his arms.  
  
She had not come to their bed in a full week... If only he could remember the things he said! Then he could put it all right.  
  
In an odd gesture, he threw his hands up in defeat and rose from the bed. This would not do. He would have to find her and convince her that nothing was wrong. Surely she couldn't hold a grudge against him for this long?!  
  
Padding softly to the hall outside the room, he looked both ways before sensing her ki signature. He frowned as he sensed her ki emanating from their son's old bedroom on the second floor of the mansion. Had she been sleeping there the whole time?  
  
He cautiously made his way down the hall, towards the spiral steps that led to his son's room. He secretly hoped their confrontation would be quick, then they could go back to making up. A lazy smirk crossed Vegeta's face. The making up was always better than the arguing or fighting. It was something they both enjoyed.  
  
After what seemed an eon, he finally reached the bedroom in which his mate lay. He paused momentarily, taking into account the relaxed pattern of her ki, indicating that she was asleep. Twisting the door knob in a painfully slow movement, he stepped inside the room quickly and quietly with the stealth of an assassin.  
  
In a millisecond, he was standing by her bedside looking down upon her sleeping form. He stood as still as a stone statue gazing down at her, hand poised and ready to shake her awake. The dim glow of the moonlight shimmered across her cheek and face, lighting it in a pure halo of innocence. Thin tendrils of azure hair bathed the pillow seductively, and it seemed to glow of its own accord.  
  
She looked positively beautiful, young and fresh as the day they had met. It was a good thing he had convinced Kakarott to use the Dragonballs in their favor for one last time, granting them the wish of allowing their mates to have a Saiya-jin's life-span. Had it not been for Vegeta's quick thinking, they would have lost a valuable wish and both his and Kakarott's mate would have had to suffer the brunt of old age.  
  
Not a hint of old age could be seen in the taught creamy skin of her cheeks and Vegeta felt a pang of need course through his veins. He cursed himself for being undisciplined in matters concerning his mate but things had changed since their union many years ago, before Bra and Trunks had been born.  
  
He had changed.  
  
Now his children were fully grown, no longer in need of his or their mother's support and it seemed to Vegeta that all he had left was his mate. A satisfied smirk fell across his face, knowing that she would never leave him as their children had done to them. She was bound to him for all eternity.  
  
He couldn't deny himself any longer, they needed to sort out their differences and get back to the plus side of being mated.  
  
"Woman," his gruff voice bounced off the walls of the large room that distinctly smelled of his son. He shook her abruptly, thinking of an excuse to make when she awoke.  
  
He froze as her hand shot out at a speed even he could not fathom. Vegeta drew his eyebrows together in surprise as she squeezed his wrist.  
  
Her eyes flew open and she gasped several times, her mouth trying to form words. Amidst the concern and panic he felt, Vegeta fell to his knees and shook Bulma resolutely, not being able to think of a way to dim her asthmatic breathing. "BULMA!" He shouted, stroking her head and trying to shake her out of the emotional shock she was in.  
  
Perhaps she had been too induced in her sleep and found being awoken, shocking. Grabbing her shoulders, he shook her again. "Woman, it's me! Stop this at once," He barked out with a flat voice, trying not to let his emotions get the best of him.  
  
Bulma's eyes grew wide as she found herself staring in to the eyes of her husband. Something terrible was happening to her and she could not seem to stop it. Her breathing grew even more hitched as her bronchioles dilated and contracted, the pipe becoming so tiny that only small amounts of oxygen could circulate around her body.  
  
She felt her pulse slow down, thus causing her anxiety to further increase. She gripped her husband's upper arm, thinking it would help to steady her breathing. Much to her dismay, it did little help and only seemed to further worry her handsome husband. She coughed, choking on the dryness of her throat. Something was empowering her mind and she tried with all her might to fight it off, but she felt herself slipping from the world in which she was in.  
  
She reached out and mentally dug the claws of her mind into her husband's and found that she couldn't. He had cut her off from their bond...  
  
In the week following their fight, he had blocked her from his thoughts and feelings and from the bond. The heartache she felt was unlike any other as she stared into the obsidian eyes, that were now gazing into hers with a strange emotion brewing in them that she could not decipher.  
  
Her entire chest ached at having him block her from their bond and she realized that she no longer had the power to hold onto the world in which she lived. She felt herself falling into an unknown place and felt something, or someone else, take over her mind. Before letting herself become lost completely, she uttered the next words with a small, melancholy tone. "V-Vegeta... I'm sorry." She felt herself fade into nothingness. And then, she was gone.  
  
Vegeta's eyes widened in horror at her words and he saw her eyes dim into a lifeless void. He moved his lips, trying to speak but found no sound would come out. He shook her again in earnest, trying to force the life that was once in her eyes to return. Slowly but surely, the life that had disappeared from her eyes, gradually return... But it was different to the one that had been there before. This was something Vegeta had not seen before in his mate, haunted and painful emotions flashing in her bright eyes.  
  
As her breathing returned to normal, he gently laid her back down on the bed, shaken by what had just occurred. In all his years alive, he had never seen her behave in such a way. He scowled, waiting patiently for her senses to return. "Woman," he said again, after finding his voice. He crossed his arms in frustration, angry at her for scaring him into a stupefied silence.  
  
She stared at him blankly for several moments.  
  
Then Vegeta felt as though all Hell had broken free from its reigns and had descended upon him. She began to scream like a tortured Banshee, flailing in the bed, attempting to escape his gaze by trying to fight her way out of the silk covers that shrouded her body.  
  
Vegeta frowned, shocked by her actions. She finally managed to free herself from the bed and scrambled unwittingly towards the corner of the room, where she sat in a huddled ball screaming as though her entire being was on fire.  
  
"Bulma..." Vegeta whispered, utterly stunned by her strange behavior. He began to advance towards her huddled body in the corner of the room and much to his surprise, found her looking and screaming at him in such a fear he had never seen before. It were as she was slowly going mad...  
  
"What is wrong?" He demanded, perplexed as he crouched beside her screaming form, holding her cheeks in his hand and forcing her to look at him. "Tell me Bulma, what is wrong?"  
  
Her mouth opened and closed like a gaping fish as she tried to speak. Her screams had dwindled to fearful whimpers and she tried to shrink herself into the wall, away from the hideous man before her. "P-please don't hurt me..." She whispered like a child.  
  
Vegeta felt his heart ache at the words. Not once in his life had he ever laid a finger upon her and here she was as though he had hurt her all her life! It was completely unfathomable. "Bulma... It's me. What is going on? What is wrong with you?" He asked, feeling as though she had been torn from his side and cast in another world and place. He reached out his other arm to encircle her waist, only to find her screaming louder than before, as though her life were in danger.  
  
He withdrew his arm in frozen shock and watched as she promptly fainted.  
  
From that day, Vegeta found that he could not enter the same room as her without her falling into hysterics at the mere sight of him.  
  
Something was not right, but he couldn't comprehend what was going on. All Vegeta knew, was that he wanted his mate and lover back...  
  
He wanted his wife back.  
  
~*~  
  
The cool floor of the gravity simulator had soothed him into a deep slumber. Vegeta opened his eyes with a start as the reminiscent dream faded from his subconscious. He grunted as he pushed himself off of the floor.  
  
Draping a towel around his neck, he slowly made his way towards the exit portal of the simulator, when continuous pounding stopped him dead in his tracks. He frowned and stared at the closed door, trying to discern who stood on the other side. He quickly strode to the door and pressed the button, instantly coming face to face with his troubled daughter.  
  
The worried look on her face was enough for Vegeta to let out a barrage of questions. "What is it? Is you mother alright? Say something or-" He found himself abruptly cut off as she rushed passed him to the innards of the simulator.  
  
"Daddy!" Bra cried, looking at him concern and what seemed to be annoyance.  
  
"What?" He snapped back, but calmed his tone as he saw the hurt expression on her face. She reminded him of his mate so much... What was the Chikyuu- jin saying? A carbon copy of her mother. "What is it Bra?" He asked in lower tone of voice.  
  
Bra sighed as she stared at her father, "Why are you doing this to yourself?" She said quietly.  
  
"Doing what?" Vegeta felt himself growing impatient.  
  
"This ridiculous regime of training! If you get yourself killed..." She trailed off, tearing her gaze away from that of her father's. "What will Momma say when she gets better, only to find that you aren't here because you killed yourself in a suicidal training scheme?"  
  
"If she gets better," Vegeta corrected bitterly. He used the tips of the towel draped around his neck to dab at the thin streaks of sweat running down from his hairline.  
  
"Have a little faith Daddy!" Bra cried, leaning against the control panel of the simulator. She couldn't believe how negatively her father was behaving, but she knew she was only optimistic because of the knowledge she held. The news she had to tell him was itching to be relayed.  
  
Vegeta raised his eyebrow at the sudden change in his daughter's attitude to the condition of her mother. "Faith?" He growled, "There is no such thing as 'faith' child," Vegeta spat in contempt. "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be with your own mate?" He demanded, almost wanting to throw her out of the simulator so he could have solicitude and peace.  
  
Bra shook her head at her father's cold countenance. She knew him all too well, much to his displeasure. "You can throw me out once you hear what I have to tell you!"  
  
"Fine," He replied in annoyance. He crossed his arms stared at her placidly, waiting for whatever news she had.  
  
"I spoke with Kami. He said-" She said in a rush of exited breath.  
  
Vegeta found himself sneering as he cut her off, "Do not tell me you're losing your mental health as well?" He said incredulously, "Kami and Piccolo have been fused together for over twenty years, what are you rambling about child? Is this mental illness contagious?" He asked warily.  
  
His daughter rolled her eyes in a familiar gesture... One he had seen many times with his mate. He waited for her to speak again.  
  
"For Dende's sake Daddy, you're so insufferable!" She chided in angrily. "No wonder Momma mentality dematerialized, she always had you picking at her brains and slowly driving her crazy!" Her hand flew to her mouth before she could stop the words tumbling out. She saw the inevitable hurt on her father's face, something that no one else who knew him as well as she, would have known. She kicked herself mentally for her harsh words as the muscle in his jaw contracted wildly. She slowly took a step towards him and lay a hand on his arm, only to find it shrugged off.  
  
"I'm sorry Daddy, you know I didn't mean that."  
  
Vegeta snorted and avoided his daughter's piteous gaze. "You say you spoke with Kami?"  
  
She sighed and nodded. "It wasn't Kami from this dimension... It was Kami from another dimension, or that's what he told me."  
  
Vegeta frowned, briefly staring at his daughter. "Go on,"  
  
"He said something about a terrible event on the horizon, something that could destroy us all."  
  
The Saiyan Prince blinked in apprehension. "Are you sure?"  
  
Bra took a deep breath before answering, "Yes," she spoke quietly, afraid something or someone else would hear. "He said we should go to the Lookout right away, he's explained everything to Dende and that he's waiting for everyone to gather on the Lookout before telling us what's going on. That's why I'm here, we have to go."  
  
So far, everything had made sense to Vegeta. But their was still one thing irking him. "Why did Kami contact you, as well as the Namek-jin Dende?"  
  
She smiled softly, "He said it was something to do with Momma and the way..." Bra trailed off as she watched her father bolt out of the door, already making his way to the Lookout. She shook her head, holding back a chuckle at her father's obvious concern for her mother. She had always known he truly loved her and the evident response of flying away, without even waiting for her, was enough reason to let Bra see the love her father held.  
  
She made her way to the exit and briefly looked at the inside of the simulator, frowning as the musky smell of blood reached her nose. It was a good thing she came to check on him regularly in the past month, or he would have surely been killed by now. Blasting off into the bright sunny day, she followed the trail of her father's ki towards the Lookout.  
  
~*~  
  
You fell from the Heavens,  
  
And now you leave me here alone.  
  
But I will search,  
  
Til the day turns into night,  
  
And the sun falls from the sky.  
  
I will search for you, my love.  
  
And wipe away the tears you cry.  
  
--Heartless  
  
~*~  
  
AN: Okay, interesting new development. Not much of a chap, but it's crucial to develop the plot. Do you guys agree with me and say it's a weird way for Bulma to go insane? Maybe she really isn't crazy (hehe), maybe something actually did happen. But what? Is there really a new evil out there for the Z senshi? And will Vegeta cope when he finds out what really happened to Bulma, find out in the next chapter. r+r if you liked the chap.  
  
*Heartless* 


End file.
